[at-l] How was your Labor Day weekend?

[Eddy]

Due to all the rain from Ernesto my weekend plans changed. I had hoped to go to SNP for a long weekend.
  I ended up going to the Smokies for an overnighter.
  A friend went with me on a short notice call. That helps when you have to shuttle cars . We parked one car at Smokemont and the other at Newfoundgap.
  We stopped by the ranger station Sat morning to get our permit. The ranger said to hanf everything  due to the bears being extremely active. I never sawa bear but the mice were active.
   
  We headed up the AT towards Icewater Spring Shelter from Newfoundgap. It was very cloudy and started raining about a mile or so into the trail. Lots of folks out walking the AT. Most were headed up to the Mt LeConte Lodge. Nice place to visit but I prefer the shelter.
  We stopped at Icewater Spring Shelter to dry off some and eat lunch. So do everyone else. I stood outside the shelter to eat but most sat inside and ate. Guess they didn't see the sign about not eating in the shelter.
  We finally left and headed towards Charlies Bunion. The clouds lifted and I got a few pics but not very many good ones. We soon arrived at our connecting trail Dry Sluice Gap Trail. For a trail that was suppose to go downhill there were a lot of uphills...lol 
  It looked like we had been the only people on this trail in a long time
  The rain was off and on making it hard to continue wearing my poncho. I looked like Gumby with it on..lol The guide book said we would cross creeks and we kept looking for them as we were running out of water. Eventually we did but it was almost at the campsite.
  The campsite #49 (Cabin Flats) is a really nice site. Right beside a stream and plenty of tent sites. Only problem was there were only 3 cables to hang your food. Not good when there is 5 campsites.
  The next mornign we got up and headed down the Bradley Fork Trail. About a mile fro mthe campsite you cross and old trestle bridge. From that point on it wasa road walk. At least it was not raining. I was able to take more pictures than the day before.
  We ran into a lot of day hikers on this trail since it was so easy to walk.
  We finally made it back to the car and headed back to the Newfoundgap to the other car. That place was packed with tourons. I was so glad to get out of there...lol
   
  Sorry to ramble on and I even left some details out..lol
   
  Here is my pics http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553807930VugVlD
   
  Eddy


 		
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